The present invention relates to a system and a method for teaching/learning to play a musical instrument wherein the system has a terminal device and a server that are communicable with each other so that the musical instrument may be connected to the terminal device and the server side may guide a user when the user practices to play the musical instrument, as well as to the server applied thereto.
Hitherto, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 10-187022/1998, a system is known in which a program for practicing to play a musical instrument is installed in a personal computer and a keyboard instrument is connected to the computer so as to allow the user to practice playing the keyboard instrument in accordance with the program.
However, in the aforesaid conventional apparatus, it is not easy for the user to obtain various teaching materials although the user can practice playing the musical instrument by selecting various teaching materials for practice. Moreover, regarding the programs for the playing practice, it is difficult to prepare a program that can adopt a method of practice most suitable for each teaching material, and also there is a possibility that the program becomes huge. Due to this limitation on the programs, it may not be possible to provide an appropriate guidance on the user.
In order to deal with the aforesaid problems of the prior art, the inventors of the present invention thought of letting the user practice playing the musical instrument with the use of a terminal device (computer device) communicably connected to a server via a network such as the internet, a public telephone line, an exclusive-use line, or a LAN (local area network). According to this system, the user can easily obtain a product related to the playing practice including a teaching material for the playing practice, and an appropriate guidance can be provided to the user.
The present invention aims at appropriately charging a fee on the user with respect to the practice of playing a musical instrument in a system or method for practicing the musical instrument such as described above. In particular, the present invention provides a method of charging a fee so that the user may practice playing the musical instrument with eagerness.
In order to achieve the aforesaid object, the first characteristic feature of the present invention lies in a system or method for teaching/learning to play a musical instrument, the system having a terminal device and a server that are communicable with each other so that the musical instrument may be connected to the terminal device and the server side may guide a user when the user practices to play the musical instrument, wherein the terminal device transmits practice information, which represents a state of the user""s practicing to play the musical instrument, to the server, and the server determines a fee for the user""s practicing to play the musical instrument by discounting the fee in accordance with the practice information, and charges the determined fee on the user.
Further, the second characteristic feature of the present invention lies in that the server determines the fee of a product related to the user""s practicing to play the musical instrument, which product is purchased by the user from the server with the use of the terminal device, by discounting the fee in accordance with the practice information, and charges the determined fee on the user.
In these system or method, the server may calculates a frequency of practicing on the basis of the practice information to discount the fee in accordance with the frequency of practicing. Further, the server may calculates a rising rate of the evaluation scores on the basis of the practice information to discount the fee in accordance with the rising rate of the evaluation scores. Furthermore, the server may calculates number of times courses are finished on the basis of the practice information to discount the fee in accordance with the number of times courses are finished. Furthermore, the server further may calculates total hours of practice on the basis of the practice information to discount the fee in accordance with the total hours of practice.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server applied to the system or method for teaching/learning to play a musical instrument, as well as a method of teaching/learning a musical instrument suitable for the server.
In the invention as described above, the fee for the playing practice or the fee of the product related to the playing practice is automatically charged on the user that practices to play a musical instrument. The charged fee is discounted in accordance with the practice information representing a state of the user""s practicing to play the musical instrument. According to this system or method, the user""s state of practicing to play the musical instrument can be reflected on the discount rate, for example, when the user frequently practices playing, when the user practices playing for a long period of time, when the user learns the course of practice with certainty as a result of the playing practice, or when the user""s level of playing improves. As a result, the user will practice playing the musical instrument with eagerness, and the speed of learning to play the musical instrument will be higher.